When is the Champions League 2023-24 group stage draw and what are the pots?

The 2023-24 Champions League is fast approaching, with teams eager to find out who they will be playing in this year's group stage.

Manchester City will look to retain their Champions League title after Pep Guardiola's side defeated Inter Milan in Istanbul back in June.

Qualification for this year's group stage is already well underway, with the play-offs set to end on Wednesday, August 30.

This year's edition will feature Union Berlin, who will be competing in the competition for the first time in their history. Newcastle United booked their place in the group stage for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Dutch side Feyenoord will also feature in this year's edition after they won the Eredivisie last season, finishing seven points ahead of PSV.

Mail Sport breaks down everything you need to know ahead of this year's Champions League group stage draw.

When is the group stage draw?

The 2023-24 Champions League group stage draw will take place on Thursday, August 31, in Monaco - a day after the play-off second leg.

This season's draw is scheduled to get underway at 5pm BST.

For those watching in the United Kingdom, TNT Sport are likely to show live coverage of draw.

UEFA's official website will also stream the group stage draw live.

What are the Champions League pots?

Pot One will feature the likes of Manchester City, Barcelona, Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain.

Sevilla will also be in Pot One after they defeated Roma in the Europa League final last season.

Manchester United and Arsenal are set to be in Pot Two, while Newcastle are yet to be place in a pot. The Magpies could be drawn into a tough group upon their return to the competition.

Six teams still need to go through the qualifiers and book their place in this season's Champions League group stage.

The full 2023-24 Champions League pots so far is as follows:

Pot One

* Manchester City

* Sevilla

* Barcelona

* Napoli

* Bayern Munich

* Paris Saint-Germain

* Benfica

* Feyenoord

Pot Two 

* Real Madrid

* Manchester United

* Inter Milan

* Borussia Dortmund

* Atletico Madrid

* RB Leipzig

* Porto

* Arsenal

Pot Three

* Shakhtar Donetsk

* Red Bull Salzburg

* AC Milan

* Lazio

* Red Star Belgrade 

* One 'League Path' winner 

Pot Three or Four 

* Newcastle United

* Celtic

* Real Sociedad

* Two 'Champions Path' winners 

* One 'League Path' winner 

Pot Four

* Union Berlin

* Lens

* Two 'Champions Path' winners 

When are the Champions League group matches?

The first matchday of the 2023-24 Champions League group stage will take place on the 19/20 of September.

This season's group stage will draw to a close on December 13.

The dates for this season's Champions League group stage is as follows:

The 2024 final is set to be held at Wembley on Saturday, June 1.